YYAMH-G Fellows
The Youth and Young Adult Mental Health Group (YYAMH-G) at New York University supports doctoral dissertation research of candidates who have written and defended proposals that are focused on some aspect of mental health. With these fellowships, students begin their academic and scholarly careers dedicated to generating new knowledge in an area of mental health services and interventions that is under-explored, innovative and stands to make an impact nationally and/or globally. Please read below descriptions about the research that is currently supported by YYAMH-G Fellowships.
Moiyattu Banya-Keister, LMSW
What is the public health significance of the problem(s) you are addressing?
Globally there are concerning rates of mental health problems on the rise amongst adolescents and youth. In Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone where my study will take place, 98% of the entire population have no access to mental health services. The citizens of Sierra Leone have survived, compounded forms of traumatic events including a 20-year civil war which occurred over two decades ago, the Ebola epidemic which claimed several lives, Floods and mudslides that left over thousands of people dead. Structural factors relating to socio economic challenges also impact the country particularly poverty.
The effects of these traumatic events and structural issues linger in the nation and the effects trickle across the society particularly with the youth who make up almost half of the population. Young women and girls experience gendered forms of traumatic events. In Sierra Leone, over 60% of girls and young women have experienced Gender based violence in the country. To date, there are no studies that have explored the mental health experiences of adolescent girls and young women in Sierra Leone as it relates to exposure to potentially traumatic events and their coping strategies.
Explain your research method and analytical plan in one sentence.
My dissertation will utilize a community engaged multi method approach and will conduct research in two phases collecting both qualitative and quantitative data and utilizing Structural Equational Modeling and Thematic Analyses in the quantitative and qualitative data respectively.
Why do you do the work you do?
As a survivor of the 20-year civil war in my country over two decades ago, I saw the impact the war had on me, my family and my peers who survived the war. I was blessed to flee Sierra Leone during the war with my family. By God’s grace I was healed from the traumas of the war and in getting the right mental health counseling I gained the tools needed to address what happened to me. I knew I needed to return and give back. Over a decade after relocating to the US as a refugee the war had ended, so I returned to Sierra Leone a healed woman, with a vision to restore healing into the lives of girls and young. I established my organization Girls Empowerment Sierra Leone (GESL) an organization that works to develop the wholistic wellbeing of girls, by empowering them to become leaders and change agents.
My work with the girls and young women in GESL over the past 12 years made me realize that much work needs to be done to develop culturally relevant interventions to address the needs of adolescent and youth in my country. This is what leads me to do the work I do. I have a deep desire to see the adolescents and youth I work with heal and flourish in their whole selves, which will contribute to a healed society.
Marcus Brown, MSW, LCSW-S
What is the public health significance of the problem(s) you are addressing?
Black adults are disproportionately affected by serious mental illness (SMI) and often underutilize formal mental health services, instead seeking support through informal and personal recovery pathways. This dissertation study explores these unique pathways (formal care, informal support, and personal recovery) to understand how service use facilitates recovery. The findings will inform the development of culturally relevant mental health services, improve service engagement, and promote better mental health outcomes for Black adults with SMI.
Explain your research method and analytical plan in one sentence.
My dissertation study uses semi-structured interviews and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore how Black adults with SMI make sense of their recovery through formal care, informal support, and personal strategies.
Why do you do the work you do?
My personal experiences as a Black man raised in a family and community with untreated mental illness have shaped my professional commitment to social work and my research agenda. I witnessed how stigma silenced discussions about mental health and how both formal and informal pathways to care impact well-being. Because research usually centers data that can often discount race, my work centers the voices of Black adults in SMI recovery to understand their processes. Telling the story from this angle is an antiracist act. The mere act of taking up space as a Black male researcher and doing the work is an act that defies systemic racism. This is why I do the work I do.